"When times are tough, constant conflict may be good politics but in the real world, cooperation works better. ... Unfortunately, the faction that now dominates the Republican Party doesn't see it that way. ... One of the main reasons America should re-elect President Obama is that he is still committed to cooperation."

Clinton suggested that Obama's health care law is keeping medical costs in check. "For the last two years, health care spending has grown under 4 percent, for the first time in 50 years. So, are we all better off because President Obama fought for it and passed it? You bet we are."

"I know many Americans are still angry and frustrated with the economy. ... I experienced the same thing in 1994 and early 1995. Our policies were working, but most people didn't feel it yet. By 1996, the economy was roaring, halfway through the longest peacetime expansion in American history."

Distortion

Distortion

Distortion

From Clinton's speech, voters would have no idea that the inflexibility of both parties is to blame for much of the gridlock. One of the more high-profile examples of a deal that fell apart was the outline of a proposed "grand bargain" budget agreement between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner in 2011. Boehner couldn't sell the plan to Tea Party factions in the House or to other conservative activists, and some Democrats accused Obama of going too far. The deal died before it came up for a vote. The problem with compromising in Washington is that there are few true moderates left in either party. The notion that Republicans are the only ones standing in the way of compromise is inaccurate.

That's wishful thinking at best. The nation's total health care tab has been growing at historically low rates, but most experts attribute that to continued uncertainty over the economy, not to Obama's health care law. Two of the main cost-control measures in Obama's law - a powerful board to keep Medicare spending manageable and a tax on high-cost insurance plans - have yet to take effect. While premium increases cannot be blamed on the health care law, as Republicans try to do, neither can Democrats claim credit for breaking the back of health care inflation.

Clinton leaves out the abrupt downward turn the economy took near the end of his second term and the role his policies played in setting the stage for the historic financial meltdown of 2008. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite stock index and the Dow Jones industrial average peaked in March 2000. The bursting of the high-tech bubble dragged the economy and markets down the rest of the year. As president, Clinton supported the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a law dating to the Great Depression that separated banking from high-risk financial speculation. Some financial historians say the repeal of the law paved the way for banks to make risky investments, such as mortgage-backed securities, that played a role in the 2008 meltdown.